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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Combing through an old inbox I came across this fantastic interview with producer Joshua Harvey, better by the moniker Hervé, which ended up not seeing the light of day when it should have. Since then he's added a whole new album and remixes for Beyoncé, Usher and DJ Fresh to an already extensive list of credits. The album 'The Art of Disappearing' is out now and features Katie Stelmanis of Austra, Niki & The Dove and Seasfire, so be sure to cop that once you're finished here. Check out his answers to my questions after the jump:

1. Hello Hervé, how are you?

Very well thanks, off to Barcelona at the end of the week so pretty happy - stack of work to get through first though!
Can't wait for the summer!

2. You recently shot a music video for a new single with Ronika. Can you tell me a bit more about that collaboration and how it came about?

A friend of a friend told me about Ron, said she knew this really great singer and if would like to work with her. After hearing some of her music I got in touch and she came back with the vocal on first attempt.
She then came down and we got on really well. She's a lovely person, and I always try to help her out or involve her when I can with people I think she could work really well with.

3. The fantastic previous single "Better Than A BMX", featuring Frankmusik on vocals, has had a pretty great reception and introduced you to a whole new audience (myself included). What was it about that track that you felt best represented the album and yourself as a solo artist?

Thanks very much, I'm always out to turn new people on to what I do. The album is basically just a reflection of my sound, cementing what I'm doing at this moment in time. It's a combination bass and melody, which is what I really enjoy - you can show off the technical and heavy side as well as actually writing some great music/melodies, and with BMX it seems to represent one of the sides of that from the album.
When I finished the track with Vince I just knew it was the first single. With album projects what should be a single and in what order tends to jump out at you, the same way when you have 25-30 tracks you know which ones need to hit the bin and which ones make sense being the album.

4. What can we expect from the rest of the album? Are Vince and Ronika the only collaborations or will each track feature someone different?

No, I have some other great people on there, a friend of mine called Ryan sings on a track (he's from a great band I found last year, top secret though!). Also Charlotte who is from a band called Tricity sings on 2 tracks. The finale track features garage/blues duo The Willowz plus I managed to persuade Steve Mason (the singer from the Beat Band) to guest, real highlight of my career getting to work with him and one of my favourite tracks from the album.

5. You also own your own record label, Cheapthrills Records, with two sub labels Cheaper Thrills and Deep Thrills. Why did you decide to set up your own label and how has it influenced your perception of the industry and the whole music-making/releasing process?

Primarily I wanted to have an outlet for my various guises and I knew at some point I would want to sign and develop new artists and bands. I never expected it to become as big as it has with the sub labels etc. but it is massively rewarding to run. I've always had a pretty good understanding of the business so my perceptions haven't changed much, but I'm constantly learning and changing as the industry does. You really need to be on top of things as it does move quite fast on the underground.

6. You've released and remixed music under various aliases and monikers, often in partnership with others. How has being a label boss and A&R man affected your vision on marketing and branding yourself and your music?

The marketing and branding side is normally dealt with by other people, I have my say but I'd rather experts dealt with all that stuff.
Doing all of those things at once can get in the way of each other sometimes though!

7. What do you look for in the artists you sign - what are the major do's and don'ts for new artists wanting to get noticed?

Firstly I'm looking for identity and freshness, you ideally want to put records out by someone who will stay and grow with the label. A big 'no no' for me is naming yourself after a piece of studio equipment or a genre of music in your name. I'm weird about names!

8. How important is it for an artist to be commercially viable? Is it possible to have a long-lasting career without ever turning a profit? Are records now just a means to an end - are gigging and touring indispensable?

There's so many ways to be an artist with so many ideas of what that should be its difficult to answer,
and of course you can have a long career with no profit if you have other ways to support yourself and you just enjoy the music you make then why not. I have and always will make music whether I make money or not, I'm kinda compelled to do it, if I'm not making enough to live on I'll just get a job or something. Gigging and touring are important, but it depends on what you want from life and music.

9. What can we look forward to from you and all your projects in 2012 and beyond?

New single featuring Ronika is out in may with the album out end of may, as well as the collective/band I'm in called Machines Don't Care, we are currently working on the album for that now, so I'll be busy doing shows as Hervé and in the Machines Dont Care team!
And there you have it. Keep up with Hervé on his official website, Twitter and Facebook and check out his music videos below.

UK boy band The Wanted premiered new single "Chasing The Sun", produced and co-written by fellow countryman and singer-rapper Example. Check out the two different music videos (a 'proper' one and an 'Ice Age'-tie-in) the boys shot for their hit below:

New Grand Hustle signee Iggy Azalea premiered today her debut official single, "Murda Bizness", featuring label boss T.I. The release and record deal come hot on the heels of the viral success of her YouTube clip for "Pu$$y", which among various other quirks featured a brilliant intro courtesy of Grace Jones, from a legendary scene of hers opposite Eddie Murphy in the movie "Boomerang".

Anyways, you can check out the Bei Maejor (him from that Ciara remix a while back) produced cut below. Fingers crossed the music video (which is still in development) will be every bit as excellent as the teaser clip we were given.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

It's FINALLY here! Stream the full length new single "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber below. The track is a definite winner and - if his Belieber stan reactions on Twitter are anything to go by - will be debuting high on the charts within the next week.

According to Rap-Up.com, Justin's forthcoming LP is set to include collaborations with Pharrell, Drake, Timbaland, Danja, Hit-Boy, will.i.am and Diplo (among others). Frequent collaborator and controversial BFF Chris Brown is also rumoured so let's keep our fingers crossed on that one.

The awesome dudes from World Of The Orange (WOTO) are back with their YouTube show NewMusic, sharing and commenting five cool tracks in a special episode of the show. Bing is their special guest and will be alternating hosting duties with the WOTO guys (Liam and Brad) from now on.

All you have to do is play the video below and then click the playlist button at the top, it will take you to the first video, and so on etc. Be sure to click that Subscribe button and stay tuned for weekly servings of hot new music.

At Miami's Ultra Music Festival superstar DJ and producer Tim Berg - perhaps better known nowdays by his pseudonym Avicii - opened his set with the aid of reigning Queen of Pop, Madonna, along to a remix of her new single "Girl Gone Wild". You can watch the full setlist complete with intro below, and check out some extra pics of Madonna and Avicii right after that.

Co-written by Mike Posner, the fever's back in the guise of Justin Bieber's hot new single "Boyfriend". They're working hard on making him the new Justin Timberlake and from the sound of this new snippet they're doing pretty damn well.

The cut is out in full in two days time and serves as the lead single from his upcoming album.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Legendary R&B crooner, Oscar and Golden Globe winner Lionel Richie teams up with equally legendary country diva Shania Twain for a reworking of his classic hit "Endless Love". The collaboration marks Shania's return to the world of Pop after a seven year absence and is the first single from Lionel's new album "Tuskegee", named after his Alabama hometown.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Ever-frequent chart topper Katy Perry has released the music video for "Part Of Me", her latest US Billboard Hot 100 smash and lead single from her Teenage Dream re-release.

I'm really not quite sure what to make of this clip. On the one hand it's an interesting concept and aesthetically involving - certainly far better than another generic "in the club drinkin' with tha homies" video, right? On the other hand, nothing much happens other than a lot of military training, which makes absolutely no sense together with the song itself.

X-Factor UK judge and former N-Dubz lead singer Tulisa Contostavlos speaks on the recent leak of her sex tape ("intimate moment") alongside former boyfriend Justin Edwards, otherwise MC Ultra (and NOT her other ex Fazer, as claimed by her cousin Dappy in rather disturbing tweets about recognising his dick & fucking lots of bitches together).

As unpleasant as the whole episode is, you've gotta love how articulate and eloquent Tulisa's comeback is. Check it out below:

Just as they make history with their debut album "Up All Night" - the first album by a British group to top the US Billboard Top 200 chart (displacing Adele with sales of 176,000) - the One Direction have released a new video. The visual is for the acoustic version of their hit "One Thing" and can be seen below.

With such phenomenal success, the 1D boys are already being hailed with bringing back the boyband (or "Pop vocal group") in the US. Whilst the jury's still out on that one, two or three more hit singles could easily propell their record to Gold, maybe even Platinum, certification.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Just as her comeback single "King Of Hearts" starts to build on US radio, Bad Boy's first lady Cassie appears on Machine Gun Kelly's new cut "Warning Shot". The track is lifted from his latest mixtape "Half-Naked & Almost Famous".

As glad as I am for Cassie to be getting some extra promo, she doesn't particularly DO anything here. Her contribution could very easily be recorded by anyone else - it sounds a bit like she recorded it over the phone or something. Still, it's a good track overall, so hopefully it'll get a proper push and a video etc and do something for them both on urban radio.

Earlier today Katy Perry stopped by BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge and performed a rousing rendition of Kanyé West and Jay-Z ("The Throne") runaway hit "Niggas In Paris".

As surprising as it may sound, she actually killed it. Female rap game = shut down. I must not be watching the same video as those people saying she was trash, weak, embarassing, lame, etc. Indeed, if it wasn't for her long string of chart-topping Pop hits, I swear she'd already be ranking right alongside Iggy Azalea and Kreayshawn in all the "to watch out for", "freshmen", "best new female rappers" (etc etc) lists.

Hot on the heels of the song and music video's premiere, Marina And The Diamonds has served up a separate visual to accompany the acoustic version of her latest release, "Primadonna". Needless to say, she [as always] looks and sounds fantastic.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Queen of all that is sensuously nostalgic Lana Del Rey has picked long-running fan favourite and "Video Games" B-side "Blue Jeans" as the next official single release from her chart-topping debut album. The music video features Bradley Soileau, the striking model dude from "Born To Die", and completely and utterly transpires sex. Although the original clip from way back is still my favourite (for nostalgia value), this is a great clip in it's own right.